Lemons: BK-16 Mod Discussion and Ideas : Completed Photo's

[iwouldhurtafly]

What's up guys? Sketched out a few designs last night and this morning. Got my scanner working so I was able to get a decent pic.
Still playing around with the butt end of the handles and trying to get my blade lines and curves right. Man it's so much harder than it looks to draw this stuff out. lol

Thanks Granite! I may take you up on that indeed, I love some curly maple!!!

Oh god, I really like how the bottom one (The Lemonade) Turned out with the handle. I kinda see it like you did the gamestalker, but with brass or copper pins... But seriously, I was in favor of the kephart bushcrafty one initially until the clip came out looking so good in this thread... That knife would be (in theory) a cutting machine. It would probably do very well with food processing tasks, game cleaning, and even wood crafting. I love it... I am now looking at my 14 thinking I need to get another one to mod like this... Good work Dex!

 

[Dexwithers]

Nice drawings.
I'd recommend not curving the back of the edge on the modified wharnie because it will make it difficult to use against flat surfaces. Also, the edge will get very thick there because you'll be moving up the primary bevel.

I like curly maple. It's not super tough though, and it can move a good bit after you shape it if it's not stabilized.

Yea I played around with it a bit and the curve there just looked a lot better than having it start straight. I will do a few more drawings and see what happens.

And man, I think you may be right about the stabilized wood. The gamestalker I added ebony scales to, moved so much when it got cold then hot and the humidity was up and down that one week the pins were flush, the next they were sticking out, and a few weeks later they were counter sunk. Crazy. I did go back and use a different finish when she mellowed out and it seems to be helping.

how about laying back the drop a bit more, add a top swedge and a recurve at the edge going towards the handle? don't have a photo right now, but it would be similar to a muela commando. the bottom guard can follow the curve of the recurve in one flowing sweep, leaving a "talon" a la swamp rat guards.

I'll have to research that knife to see what you are describing since I'm not familiar with it. Not sure if I'm gonna put a swedge since the metal gets thin towards the tip. Guess we will have to see once she's all shaped out. To bad it's not saber grounds, then we would have more possibilities.

That's the bad thing with modifying and not starting from scratch, we are limited to what is there.

Oh god, I really like how the bottom one (The Lemonade) Turned out with the handle. I kinda see it like you did the gamestalker, but with brass or copper pins... But seriously, I was in favor of the kephart bushcrafty one initially until the clip came out looking so good in this thread... That knife would be (in theory) a cutting machine. It would probably do very well with food processing tasks, game cleaning, and even wood crafting. I love it... I am now looking at my 14 thinking I need to get another one to mod like this... Good work Dex!

Thanks man. And yea I am seeing that one as a great food knife. And I really wouldn't want to stab anything with it since your hand would probably slide up to the blade.

Good luck with the 14! I say go for it. What do you have to lose.

 

[Dexwithers]

So I was sitting here comparing some other knifes to what we have so far and realized that The Lemonade's blade profile is identical to my Bravo 1, minus the thumb ramp and the finger guard.
Very interesting indeed.

 

[Silverthorn]

Oh god, I really like how the bottom one (The Lemonade) Turned out with the handle. I kinda see it like you did the gamestalker, but with brass or copper pins... But seriously, I was in favor of the kephart bushcrafty one initially until the clip came out looking so good in this thread... That knife would be (in theory) a cutting machine. It would probably do very well with food processing tasks, game cleaning, and even wood crafting. I love it... I am now looking at my 14 thinking I need to get another one to mod like this... Good work Dex!

I like the modified Wharnie with less guard, and the Lemonade as is. Those are both quite nice.

 

[Jerry D.]

Let's make the Lemonaid happen, Dex.

 

[Dexwithers]

After playing around with my ESEE 4 and Bravo 1, I wanted to see what moving the handle down over the finger guard more looked like. I kinda like it!

Also played around with the designs a bit.

And yes, a version of the Lemonade will happen for sure!! Hell, maybe two different ones.

 

[Dexwithers]

And here are some blank one's so incase anyone without a 16 wants to do some experimenting.

 

[daizee]

you really badly want to put a divot in the spine.

with that 16... I like the removed guard on the lemonade, but what if instead of three curves on the underside of the handle, there were only two? roll the front one forward, nice and smoothly, all the way to the back of the sharpening notch. Then do whatever straight clip point mod you like best (mine ).

 

[Dexwithers]

you really badly want to put a divot in the spine.

with that 16... I like the removed guard on the lemonade, but what if instead of three curves on the underside of the handle, there were only two? roll the front one forward, nice and smoothly, all the way to the back of the sharpening notch. Then do whatever straight clip point mod you like best (mine ).

One of these will get the damn thumb divot! lol But seriously, I was trying to get it to look right in my eyes. Having it go from the flat spine where the jimping is to flat drop to the point looked a little off and I was trying to figure out how to visually fix it. Also, If I do the thumb divot there, Maybe keep it sharp and add small jimping, Then I could round and polish the flat on the drop part. And still be able to use a fero rod in the divot.

I think I see what you are saying about the two curves. Only problem I see is the flat starts directly in the center of the sharpening choil. Therefore the handle scales would have to stop before they reach the new curve. Not sure how that would feel. But it may work if done right.
On my modded 16 with the file work, I removed part of the finger guard and even that little bit is noticeable and if you are not careful, your hand will slip up to the blade. So I am a little cautious of removing it all the way.

I think after this project, I'm gonna order a blank piece of 1095 so we don't have all these constraints.

 

[daizee]

So I am a little cautious of removing it all the way.

I just looked at my 17. The scales are not compatible with my two-curve description. Please disregard.

I think after this project, I'm gonna order a blank piece of 1095 so we don't have all these constraints.

:thumbup:
(tho to be honest, get 1084 from Aldo. Then get something fancier than 1095 when you're done with experimenting and ready to send out solid designs for heat-treat)

 

[Dexwithers]

I just looked at my 17. The scales are not compatible with my two-curve description. Please disregard.

We can make any scale design we want, just can't pass the flat part where the grind starts. That's whats making the 2 curve probably not possible.

:thumbup:
(tho to be honest, get 1084 from Aldo. Then get something fancier than 1095 when you're done with experimenting and ready to send out solid designs for heat-treat)

Actually I think I have a huge old file that would be more that enough steel to play around with for a knife this size. Just need to anneal it.

And I thought 1095 wasn't that expensive compared to the other steel makers use?

 

[Tdhurl1103]

I would consider trimming down the the handle portion a bit on the back end to streamline everything. I'd also consider the addition of choil a bad idea so it is not rendered here. Can you imagine how thin the front portion of the choil will be? (when the top of the index finger would rest against, probably the width of a flat head screwdriver tip....rougly). Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I'd want a little more steel there.

Maybe I'm smoking crack, but if I had the talent and an extra 16, I'd try this. Yup, basic but I like it. I couldn't figure out how to draw a damn arrow to point to the back screw hole..

 

[daizee]

Actually I think I have a huge old file that would be more that enough steel to play around with for a knife this size. Just need to anneal it.

And I thought 1095 wasn't that expensive compared to the other steel makers use?

files are more trouble than they're worth for a lot of reasons. yeah, we've 'all' done it, but the results can be unpredictable.
1084 is cheaper than 1095, and you can heat treat it with very basic equipment and get a really solid blade. Doing 1095 right requires a bit more, and is more finicky to treat.

I like Tdhurl's squared-off guard.

 

[Zuluninja]

this is what I meant. the recurve can extend all the way to the guard in one sweeping curve. Too bad it's not a saber

 

[daizee]

this is what I meant. the recurve can extend all the way to the guard in one sweeping curve. Too bad it's not a saber

Indeed, but putting a recurve into an already FFG ground blade will cause the inside of the curve to be insanely thick at the edge compared to the rest of the blade. To do that right you need to grind the bevels appropriately from the get-go.

If it were saber-ground, then clipping it would just make a BK-17. I think a FFG clip-point is way more interesting.

 

[iwouldhurtafly]

Indeed, but putting a recurve into an already FFG ground blade will cause the inside of the curve to be insanely thick at the edge compared to the rest of the blade. To do that right you need to grind the bevels appropriately from the get-go.

If it were saber-ground, then clipping it would just make a BK-17. I think a FFG clip-point is way more interesting.

It certainly is a lot more interesting... This whole thing is really neat. I really think that long clipped bk16 is going to turn out to be a killer blade...

 

[Dexwithers]

Played around with the Two curve. Think it would be a killer knife in the kitchen. I actually really like it. Also played around with slightly curving the drop instead of a straight line.

 

[Dexwithers]

I would consider trimming down the the handle portion a bit on the back end to streamline everything. I'd also consider the addition of choil a bad idea so it is not rendered here. Can you imagine how thin the front portion of the choil will be? (when the top of the index finger would rest against, probably the width of a flat head screwdriver tip....rougly). Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I'd want a little more steel there.

Maybe I'm smoking crack, but if I had the talent and an extra 16, I'd try this. Yup, basic but I like it. I couldn't figure out how to draw a damn arrow to point to the back screw hole..

Cool idea but I think it's more tactical looking than I was wanting to go tho. If I had more 16's, we could do something like that for sure. lol Your pinky would fit on the drop off right?

As far as the choil idea, Yes it would be to thin in my opinion for a tactical type application where you would put lots of force on it but as far as a light duty and kitchen knife, it would be more than thick enough. All my kitchen knives that have choils are way thinner and also not smoothed and polished as I would do if we go that route. I just put up a new rendition with a forward grove moved up into the choil and I think it will be fine. My BK7 choil is about the same thickness also. But yes, ideally, we would want thicker there.
I just checked my BK5 and the choil is really thin by the blade. It would be sort of like that since we will have some meat above the edge.

 

[Dexwithers]

this is what I meant. the recurve can extend all the way to the guard in one sweeping curve. Too bad it's not a saber

That would look cool. It would be like the mini brute I was thinking about making. We need the saber for sure to get that sexy flat with the curve.

 

[Dexwithers]

Daizee, I checked out your knives on your page............ Very awesome!!! I like your work a lot.